FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"I don't like it."

"We're a bit tight on money right now, there haven't been many jobs listed on the bounty board recently."

Nyxilan Redwood was in her bedroom, getting dressed for her mission tonight. Her spouse, Arc, sat cross legged on the bed, trying to convince her to not go.

"Is dangerous job." Arc said.

"And I'm a dangerous beastman." Nyx said, tightening a black leather belt around her waist and putting a few medical supplies into the pouches as well as some vials of various liquids. "I can take care of myself."

Arc sighed. "I know. I had to at least try, no?"

"I used to take assassination bounties all the time before I met you. I'm still alive, right? This one will be no different, you don't need to worry about me."

"I am your vife. Is job to worry. And vhile I know how capable you are, you being gone for so long leaves lot to imagination."

"As much as I would love to bring you along, you aren't fit for stealth. And I'll only be gone about a week and a half." Nyx opened a chest in the corner of the bedroom and pulled out two curved daggers, which she strapped to her upper thighs, and a set of five small throwing daggers, which she put in a pouch on her hip.

She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a long sleeved shirt and matching pants, made from a dark gray fabric of a cotton and wool blend. She also had leather wrist and shin guards, dyed black and layered with metal underneath for extra durability. She reached up and tousled her hair a bit, giving it some volume to hide the bright red stud marriage earring in her left ear. Between the clothing and her natural black and grey fur color, she'd be basically invisible at night.

Nyx twisted around a bit, looking for signs of wear in the clothing. "I haven't worn this outfit in years, I'm glad it still fits." She stretched her arms and legs to see how flexible the material still was.

"You are missing something." Arc said. She reached over and gently grabbed the shark-cats tail, undoing the red spiked collar Nyx kept at the base of her tail fin. "Vouldn't vant this giving you away, no?"

"What would I do without you." Nyx said with a wry smile, taking the tail collar from Arc and placing it in her dresser next to the bed.

Nyx started undressing, placing the stealth outfit into a travel bag near the bedroom door. She donned her sleep wear, and sat next to Arc.

"You leave tomorrow, then?" Arc asked, weaving her fingers in between Nyx's and holding it gently.

Nyx nodded. "First light."

"I shall see you off."

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

Early the next morning, Nyx stood in the doorway of her home wearing travel clothes and her pack slung over her shoulder.

Arc stood with her, saying farewell before she left.

"Good luck." Arc said, embracing Nyx in a warm hug.

Nyx chuckled, hugging her back before pulling away. "I don't believe in luck. I've got all the skill I need."

"I vill miss you." Arc said.

"I'll be back before you know it." Nyx reassured. "But I'll miss you, too."

She gave Arc a quick kiss before walking away, waving goodbye.

The ground was damp as she made her way down the main road. They had just had their monthly dam drainage yesterday, and it hadn't had time to dry all the way yet. Pools of water rested here and there, which Nyx didn't bother avoiding.

She was traveling to the main city of Yim, a few days journey by hoof or paw. The bounty she had taken was to locate and assassinate a black market dealer by the name of Gelven Ire.

Nyx had never heard of Gelven before, which means he was new, and probably causing enough trouble that Yims Council was getting worried.

As Nyx walked, she reached into her pack and pulled out a couple folded papers containing all the information about Gelven that had been acquired, which included usual dealing spots, species, Alchemical ability, and so forth.

The papers described him as a greyhound beastman, but with unnaturally long, lanky legs and large thin hands. There wasn't much to go on other than that, no Alchemical ability was listed either, which meant Gelven at least knew how to stay out of sight.

Still an amateur. Nyx thought to herself. She knew good underground dealers that were so hidden, no one had any information on them but a name if they were lucky, or at least an alibi or calling card.

She flipped the paper over to where the bounty information was listed. A simple assassination bounty: bring back proof, be as quick as possible, only kill those that try to get in your way.

The pay amount was fairly low because Gelven wasn't a notorious dealer yet. Only a hundred gold pieces, with a few silver and copper as well. The low pay was probably why no other bounty hunters had decided to take up the job. But to Nyx, it would allow her and Arc to live fairly comfortably for a couple weeks until new bounties came in. Maybe even a month, if they really needed to.

If there was one thing Nyx's parents had made sure she was taught, it was how to handle money.

Nyx put the papers back in her pack and kept walking, drawing on what she could remember of Yim to devise scenarios on how she was going to gather more information on Gelven.

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

She arrived at Yim late the third day of traveling. The guards blocking the road were suspicious of her and she needed to pull out her Bounty Hunters insignia to gain access inside.

The insignia was a coin with archaic markings on one side that said the full name of the bounty hunter it belonged to and the face of said bounty hunter on the other. Etched along the outside of the coin was King Jared's own signature, securing the validity of the insignia.

Before entering, Nyx took a quick look at a sheet of parchment nailed to the gate. It was a written list of laws specific to the city, and if Nyx didn't want to get arrested for doing something she didn't know was illegal here, she committed the list to memory.

Most of the laws were standard and made sense, like how long the town's imprisonment periods were if you stole something. One rule that caught her attention, however, was one near the bottom involving street lamps:

'If one is caught touching the street lamps during night hours, or taking the candles out during the day, he/she will have their thumbs removed and will spend a period of up to three weeks in a cell.'

It wasn't the strangest law Nyx had seen. The town of Yim probably just had a low supply of Will O' Wisps and candles, or they were real tired of replacing them all the time.

After being let inside, the first thing Nyx did was find a simple inn for the night to rest, and the next morning she got to work.

She staked out the locations Gelven had been spotted making deals, using rooftops as vantage points and learning the layout of the surrounding areas.

After a day of becoming comfortable with each place, she spent the next couple days lingering around the slums of Yim and the shadier parts of town, dropping hints that she was interested in doing business with a new dealer.

"Why do ya wanna do buisness with a new guy?" A particularly nosy bartender asked her on her third day in the city.

She was sitting in a particularly rough bar at the edge of the city, a dirty mug of ale in front of her. It tasted more like rancid sewer water than ale, but she gulped it down, unfazed. The bartender was a large beaver with a beer belly and broken buck teeth from too many bar fights. He was polishing a dirty mug with a dirty rag as he eyed her suspiciously.

Setting the half empty mug down on the cracked wooden counter, Nyx looked the beaver bartender in the eye.

"A variety of reasons," She said. "If they're smart, new dealers usually have cheaper prices, since they know they need to build a rep before making things more expensive. I know being cheaper means lesser quality, but I'm desperate for ambrosia, no matter how dirty it is."

Ambrosia was the term used for a popular black market drug.

The beaver put the mug on a rack behind him and turned to look at her, uncertainty in his eyes.

Nyx pulled out a gold coin and placed it on the counter, making sure the sound of metal hitting wood was audible, but keeping the coin covered with her hand. "I'm desperate." She said in a lowered voice.

The bartender glanced around, then pretended to wipe the counter down with the rag. Nyx lifted her hand just as the rag passed over the gold coin. The coin deftly vanished, getting swept off the counter quickly and into the bartenders other hand.

The beaver nodded, indicating he'd spread the word and keep a look out. Nyx rapped the counter with her knuckle to say she understood before picking up her mug and finishing off the rest of her drink. With the mild buzz of alcohol tickling the back of her mind, she left the bar.

It was a couple more days before she got what she wanted. She spent the time lying low and going to other bars to spread the word.

She wasn't afraid someone would notice her. One of the perks of being a bounty hunter in a small town was that larger cities had no idea who you were. And while hybrids were uncommon, they were still frequent enough that it didn't raise suspicion.

She got multiple beastman coming up to her, saying that their bosses heard she was interested, but none of them were Gelven.

But one night, as she was leaving a bar, an entering patron bumped into her, and she felt a hand go inside a pocket in her cloak. She fought the urge to snap the man's wrist, thinking they were trying to pickpocket her, but she didn't want to raise any alarms.

It was only until she got back to the inn she was staying at, using a sporadic path through alleyways and foreign streets to lose anyone following her, just to be safe, when she found a slip of paper in her cloak.

Unfolding it showed a location and time for a deal, with Gelven's signature at the bottom. She was lucky that he had decided to use his actual name. It was the first written location she had received and she had been worried she wouldn't know who it was from.

He was willing to meet her later that night, just after midnight at a location she didn't recognize.

Nyx's left ear twitched. She was annoyed that it was someplace she wasn't familiar with. Glancing at a clock hanging in the corner of the room, she saw there were just a couple hours before midnight. She could take the time to stake it out before the deal took place.

///// ///// ///// ///// ///// /////

Crouched on top of a nearby roof, Nyx looked out at the alleyway the deal was supposed to take place, wearing her stealth outfit, tail gently moving back and forth in anticipation. Despite getting there almost an hour early, she counted four beastman henchmen stationed around the alleyway holding lamps with weapons strapped to their waists.

The alley was at the edge of the city, nestled between a couple shady shops. As far as she could see, the entrance to the alley was the only way in or out. Two henchmen stood on either side of the alleyway entrance, while the other two patrolled the street. There was no doubt most or all of them had an alchemical ability of sorts.

If they were here, then Gelven was either already waiting or wanted to be sure the place was kept secure until he arrived. Nyx had to be sure before any action was taken.

Turning into black smoke, Nyx floated along the edge of the roof, keeping to the shadows as she made her way toward the back of the alley. While using her shading ability, Nyx couldn't really use her senses. She couldn't hear or see as an ethereal mist, but she could sort of feel her surroundings. She wished she could materialize parts of her body like her eyes while keeping the rest as smoke, but it was all or nothing with her alchemical ability.

She materialized at the top of a roof near the back of the alleyway. The alley opened up to a larger section at the back, big enough to fit 10 beastmen comfortably. Lamplight flickered at the edge of the walls and Nyx heard quiet voices coming from below.

A light breeze blew by as she crept closer to the edge of the roof, holding her hair back with one hand as her ear rotated forward to listen better.

"...couldn't find much on her." A feminine voice said.

"I didn't ask about what you couldn't find, I asked what you could." A male voice retorted. Nyx assumed it was Gelven.

The sound of papers rustling could be heard before the feminine voice spoke again. "She's a shark-cat hybrid. Seems to have arrived not too long ago. I dug through some old records, and while I didn't find anything concrete, I think she may be a Veldser."

"A Veldser? The trading company?"

"They're the only cat and shark couple I could find on record, but Yims records are few so there may be others."

The male voice chuckled. "If it is a Veldser, she might be loaded. I could very well make a killing tonight."

"I'd still be careful, Gelven."

Nyx backed away slowly from the roof. She was impressed with Gelven, hiring beastmen to research customers. She was lucky her parents hadn't made a big deal about her leaving home, otherwise whoever Gelven had hired would've found a lot more information.

Having confirmed that Gelven was indeed in the alley, she had to take care of the guards before making any moves on him or she'd be in trouble.

Dissipating into smoke again, Nyx made her way carefully to the other roof that overlooked the road and the henchmen before materializing. She took out four of the five throwing daggers she had and pulled out one of her vials, uncorking it. Inside was a thick dark blue liquid that she dripped onto the tip of each dagger.

The liquid was made from a common medicinal berry, one that doctors used to help patients sleep. The vial was the extract of said berries, concentrated enough to put anyone to sleep in an instant.

Corking the vial and putting it back in its pouch, Nyx carefully picked up the now coated throwing daggers between her fingers, two in each hand. Most bounty hunters would use a crossbow with coated arrows, but Nyx found them to be too clunky for her taste.

As much as she would've liked just killing Gelven and leaving, she knew that the city guards would appreciate it if the informant lady was captured and the henchmen imprisoned. She may get a little extra as a bonus for doing so, and more money didn't hurt.

She hurried over and dropped off the two story roof to an alley on the other side, crouching to absorb the shock. Padding quietly over to the edge of the alley, she peered around the corner, looking out at the street.

Two henchmen were still standing at the entrance to the alley, one was casually walking down the street past them, and the last henchmen was leaning against the wall around the corner that Nyx was standing next to.

The henchman around the corner took out a flask and started to drink heavily from it. As he tipped his head back, Nyx jumped out from the alley and tossed a dagger at him. The second the dagger left her hand, Nyx used her shading ability to blend in with the shadows and make her way to the other end of the road where the light from the lanterns couldn't reach well.

She sensed the henchmen fall over as the drug took effect and felt the vibrations of steps against cobblestone as his buddies came over to see what happened.

The second the vibrations stopped, Nyx materialized again to see two henchmen kneeling next to their sleeping friend. The last henchmen was making his way over. They hadn't seen her yet, blended in the dark, so she threw another dagger at the henchmen walking over, catching him in the neck. As he fell over, she dashed forward and jabbed the last two daggers into the backs of the last two henchmen.

In her early years of being a bounty hunter, Nyx would've just killed them all, but being married to Arc had made her soft.

As they all collapsed asleep to the ground, Nyx made her way to the edge of the alley where she could hear Gelven and his companion still talking. She didn't have enough of the sleeping liquid left to put Gelvens companion to sleep, so she'd have to get creative.

She took out her last throwing dagger and a yellow vial. This vial had a muscle relaxant that would render someone useless for a couple hours.

With the throwing dagger in one hand and unsheathing one of the curved blades from her thigh to hold in the other, she peered around the corner. At the far end of the alley, Nyx saw Gelven and his informant, a lemur, surrounded by boxes of merchandise. The description of him was pretty accurate, all the way down to his oversized hands. It could be a side effect of whatever Alchemical ability he had. She'd have to be careful.

Taking a deep breath, Nyx rounded the corner and ran toward the two. She threw the dagger as she did and hit the lemur in the leg, who fell over as the muscle relaxant took affect.

Gelven turned to look at Nyx, surprised. Nyx grabbed the other dagger from her thigh, and with blades in each hand, she sprinted toward him before he could react.

About five feet from Gelven, right before she reached him, she felt something wash over her. She collapsed, tumbling across the ground and coming to a stop at Gelven's paws. Her heart was pounding, sweat dripped down her brow as her breathing quickened.

What's happening? What's going on? She thought frantically.

A paw connected with her face, and she felt something break in her muzzle. The pain barely registered as she dropped her blades and rolled away from Gelven.

He's going to kill me. Sweet Iridescence he's going to kill me.

She got to her knees and looked up to see Gelven raising a large hand, the claws on the end seeming to grow larger.

Idon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdon'twannadieIdon'twannadie.

The hand swung and Nyx instinctively used her shading ability. The clawed hand passed harmlessly through the black mist. Nyx took the opportunity to get away from Gelven. Flying down the alley, she turned back to normal on the other end of the road.

On hands and knees, she struggled to get her breathing under control as blood dripped from her nose to the ground.

She no longer felt panicked, her heart wasn't racing, but she had dropped both her blades. She clenched her teeth, angry that she had felt so afraid.

His alchemical ability must be to instill fear to those that get close to him. This was going to be a lot harder than she had originally thought.

Getting back to her feet, she saw Gelven making his way towards her, one of her blades in his oversized hand.

"Wow, I must be special if they're sending beastmen to kill me," He said. "Must mean I'm doing something right."

"Don't flatter yourself." Nyx said, wiping the blood leaking from her nose on the back of her hand and flexing her fingers to bring out her claws.

Gelven ran forward and Nyx shaded before he could reach her. She passed between his legs and reformed behind him. As soon as she did, panic rose inside her again, but she bit down on her tongue, her sharp teeth easily piercing the muscle. A metallic taste filled her mouth, and she used the pain to keep her head focused despite her mind screaming at her to get as far away as possible.

He swiped with the blade, turning around toward her. For a split second, the fear kept her body frozen as the blade came toward her, convinced she was going to die. At the last moment, she willed her body to back up, the knife grazing her stomach. Focusing on the newfound pain, she ducked and swept his legs out from under him.

The second his body hit the ground, the overwhelming fear temporarily vanished. Nyx took the brief reprieve to kick the knife out of his hand. The panic came back as Gelven tried to swipe at her legs.

Pivoting to the side, she kicked the greyhound in the snout. Once again, the fear left and Nyx started to feel light headed from the constant rising and falling panic.

Bending down, she wrapped her hand around his throat, digging her claws into the skin as she squeezed. She placed a knee on one of his wrists to keep it from moving and gripped the other tightly in her free hand.

He started to struggle, flailing wildly with his legs to get Nyx off as his eyes started to bulge.

"I don't want to die." He gasped quietly.

"How ironic," Nyx said under her breath.

She lifted his head off the ground by the neck and bashed it into the cobblestone. Over and over, the sound of Gelven's head colliding against the stone echoed between the alleyways and shops around them. She brought his head down one last time, and there was an audible crack.

She held his neck for another minute, making sure Gelven was actually dead. After she was certain the greyhound had passed, she stood up, holding her bleeding stomach. The cut was shallow, so she'd live, but she pulled out a medicinal salve that slowed bleeding to coat the wound regardless.

After applying the stinging ointment and wiping the blood off her snout once again, she severed one of Gelvens fingers as proof that he was dead, gathered up her weapons, and headed off to tell the guard what had happened and finally get paid.

She was done with tonight.

---

Thanks for reading! May your inner fire burn strong